Mediamax, Armenia
Sept 12 2008
ARMENIAN MPS OPPOSE TURKEY’S POSSIBLE MEDIATION IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Yerevan, 12 September: The political forces represented in the
Armenian parliament on the whole give a positive assessment to the
results of Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Yerevan.
At that, Mediamax reports, representatives of parliamentary factions
expressed a unanimous opinion that the reconsideration of the OSCE
Minsk Group format and Turkey’s stepped up efforts to act as a
mediator in the settlement of the Karabakh problem is inadmissible.
Member of the opposition Heritage Party Vardan Khachatryan stated that
Ankara’s stepping up its efforts will play a destructive role in the
process of the settlement. Touching upon the visit of the Turkish
president to Yerevan, Vardan Khachatryan stated that the most part of
expectations related to Gul’s arrival were not justified. At that he
gave a positive assessment to the signing of an agreement on supplies
of electricity to Turkey as an important precondition for opening the
border and developing economic cooperation between Armenia and Turkey.
According to the member of the Orinats Yerkir faction, Hovhannes
Margaryan, the opening of Armenian-Turkish border and the supplies of
electricity to Turkey will have positive influence both on the state
of bilateral relations and the situation in the region in general.
The secretary of the [Armenian Revolutionary Federation -]
Dashnaktsutyun Party faction, Artashes Shahbazyan, said that certain
positive changes in Armenian-Turkish relations will take place in the
course of the next two weeks. At that he noted that in the first place
the main problems in bilateral relations should be settled. Shahbazyan
also stated that Armenia should vigorously oppose the efforts of
Turkey and Azerbaijan to change the mediation format in the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict.
The secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party faction, Aram Safaryan,
welcomed "the mostly positive attitude of Armenian society" towards
the visit of the Turkish president to Yerevan. He spoke for the
realization of a forum with the participation of all political forces
of Armenia to elaborate a consensus approach towards Armenian-Turkish
relations. According to him, Ankara’s proposal to form a Caucasus
platform should have its practical continuation in the context of
opening the Armenian-Turkish border and developing economic and
political relations in the region with the necessary participation of
Russia.